SL/R129: Horsepower ratings on Euro VS U.S.
My car is a 1990 500SL with AMG body kit. Imported from Japan. I don't think it has any engine mods because it all looks pretty stock, and the exhaust is stock as well.
But, the reason why I'm asking is because the car really huals some serious ***. I smoked my buddies 2004 M3 6 spd on the HWY. neck and neck until we hit about 160KM and than I would pull hard about 6 car lenths up to 220KM.
The car doesn't feel like it should be running mid 14's stock.
My car is a 1990 500SL with AMG body kit. Imported from Japan. I don't think it has any engine mods because it all looks pretty stock, and the exhaust is stock as well.
But, the reason why I'm asking is because the car really huals some serious ***. I smoked my buddies 2004 M3 6 spd on the HWY. neck and neck until we hit about 160KM and than I would pull hard about 6 car lenths up to 220KM.
The car doesn't feel like it should be running mid 14's stock.

Nope. hardtop. I thought he wasn't ripping it but I had to ask him just to be sure.
His first reaction when he jumped out of his car was , "How much Power does that thing have!?" lol
Was a nice feeling. The car looks pretty well stock as afar as performance mods go. It onl yhas 110,000KM.
So, 326HP Euro and 302HP U.S. Nice. Thanx guys.
I also have a 1990 911 Carrera 4 and my 500SL is neck and neck with it. Thats also a Euro car.
His first reaction when he jumped out of his car was , "How much Power does that thing have!?" lol
Was a nice feeling. The car looks pretty well stock as afar as performance mods go. It onl yhas 110,000KM.
So, 326HP Euro and 302HP U.S. Nice. Thanx guys.
I also have a 1990 911 Carrera 4 and my 500SL is neck and neck with it. Thats also a Euro car.
Actually, you need to compare 326hp to the older (pre-1998) HP rating for the US of 315. 11hp is mostly a conversion difference when going from DIN to SAE.
There is something wrong with your friend's M3 or he doesn't know how to extract the power or your car is not stock. The M3 should kill the SL500 off the line and beat it (barely) at speed, not the other way around. My SL (315hp) feels very quick but I know for a fact it's slower at every speed then my M3, M5 and CLK55 were.
I walked my buddies G35 as well. But, we didn't even get up past 100 or else I think it would have been slaughter. lol
Yeah, the car feels very very strong.
We would start at about 130 side by side and I even let him punch it a split second before me. As soon as we would get up to about 160 I would start walkign him and by 200 it gets even worse.
The car looks stock. I need to drive US spec 500SL.
Trending Topics
.....I beat an E55 (w211) with no problem......
...beating an 04 M3 is very easy...
....the best motor on the R129 would be in the year of 1989-1992......
...the output is 389hp and 440tq :v
The Best of Mercedes & AMG
.....I beat an E55 (w211) with no problem......
...beating an 04 M3 is very easy...
....the best motor on the R129 would be in the year of 1989-1992......
...the output is 389hp and 440tq :v

it was called the SL60.
it was a 6L V8
marek

The SL73 (7.3L AMG V12) was much rarer (<100 cars built).
The SL73 (7.3L AMG V12) was much rarer (<100 cars built).

Holy crap! 7.3L V12!? Never even heard of that! Whats the HP/Torque figures on that thing!?
Last edited by GTR John; Dec 25, 2005 at 05:58 AM.
7,3L V12 (7291ccm)
525 HP
Torque 750Nm
V-max artificially limited to 300km/h (188mph) because of wheel speed limit
...one of those is just parking in my garage
- a former CEO car of AMG, Affalterbach, GermanyI would not swap my car with a Renntech 7.4 or something else (Brabus, Carlsson) - the HP-Figures are often very optimistical on these cars, they have no support on these cars by Mercedes-Benz and so on...
See how fast is the Zonda now. Thats how good the engine is ...
The 500SL Up to 1993 which has a normal injection system (non electronic) has more Hp that the new models, its even faster than the new SL500 R230..
Even at high speed acceleration, it performes very well. I think that its performance at high speed is good due to the 4 speed Transmission. The Later models of R125 has 5 Speed...
7,3L V12 (7291ccm)
525 HP
Torque 750Nm
V-max artificially limited to 300km/h (188mph) because of wheel speed limit
...one of those is just parking in my garage
- a former CEO car of AMG, Affalterbach, GermanyI would not swap my car with a Renntech 7.4 or something else (Brabus, Carlsson) - the HP-Figures are often very optimistical on these cars, they have no support on these cars by Mercedes-Benz and so on...
See how fast is the Zonda now. Thats how good the engine is ...
The 500SL Up to 1993 which has a normal injection system (non electronic) has more Hp that the new models, its even faster than the new SL500 R230..
Even at high speed acceleration, it performes very well. I think that its performance at high speed is good due to the 4 speed Transmission. The Later models of R125 has 5 Speed...
I race Corvettes, mostly SCCA stuff but we do a lot of drag stuff as well. Been in a Lot of fast cars. And I am simply AMAZED by the performance her SL500 puts out. Especially at speeds above 80 mph. Given the alignments and such I'd rather be in her SL500 then in my C5 corvette at speeds above 140 mph.
Oh, and about the M3 comparison--- It cracks me up how everyone presumes that all cars will perform as well as their magazines say they will.
Or that all drivers will be about the same. I/we kill all kinds of cars that we shouldn't be able to on a reg basis.
It's just part of life.



